


speed

by ataxophilia



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Card Games, Gen, everybody's friends, mako and chuck grew up together, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-22
Updated: 2014-03-22
Packaged: 2018-01-16 13:07:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1348582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ataxophilia/pseuds/ataxophilia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“We are playing speed,” she says. “Do you know it?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	speed

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a sucker for fluff, okay?
> 
> Unbeta'd, as always.

In retrospect, it shouldn’t really come as a surprise when Raleigh walks into the canteen and finds Mako sat opposite Chuck Hansen, looking more relaxed than he’s seen her since he arrived at the Hong Kong ‘dome. There’s a pack of cards arranged on the table between them, six piles in front of each of them and two messy stacks in the middle; as he watches from the doorway, brow furrowed in confusion, they add cards from their own piles to the ones in the middle, hands moving fast enough that Raleigh can barely keep up. He guesses it’s some kind of game - from the smoothness of their motions and the easy smiles on their faces whenever they glance up at the other, one they know well - but it’s not one he recognises from nights of poker and other betting games with Yancy and the other pilots back home.

He’s aware, thanks to the drift, that Mako knew Chuck when they were younger. It’s just that after Chuck’s comments, after the way he sneered at Mako, Raleigh had figured that they never exactly got on well - so the way Mako huffs a quiet, almost fond laugh when Chuck drops the last of his cards onto one of the middle pile and slams his hand down onto it with a victorious shout seems a little, well, strange.

He doesn’t get much time to dwell on it, though, because Mako spots him as she’s dealing out another set of piles. “Raleigh,” she says, face lighting up with another smile - Raleigh doesn’t think she’s ever looked so happy to see him - and Chuck’s head jerks up and round at the greeting. The expression his face twists into isn’t quite a scowl, but it’s not Mako’s friendly welcome either. 

"What do you want?" Chuck asks, with a harsh edge to his voice that bristles Raleigh, gets him stepping forward with a sneer.

"Nice bruises, Hansen," he spits, fingers curling into a loose fist. "Feel like adding to the collection?" The words leave a sour taste in his mouth - he’s not normally this brash, hasn’t been since he was a kid, since he trained himself out of it so he could pilot with Yancy, and making threats and starting fights doesn’t sit well with him, not anymore, but Chuck riles him up, sets him on the offensive, and he can’t quite figure out why.

They’re saved from any escalation by Mako, who slams her fist down onto the table and snaps, “No, Raleigh. No, Chuck. None of this. Not today.”

Chuck turns back to her, and for a moment Raleigh thinks he’s going to fight her, but after a beat where Raleigh’s halfway convinced the two of them are communicating telepathically, Chuck just ducks his head and deals out his cards. Mako watches him with a soft, sad look in her eyes, and then lifts her gaze back to Raleigh. “We are playing speed,” she says. “Do you know it?”

"I, uh-" Raleigh glances down at Chuck, still glaring resolutely at his cards, shoulders tensed like he’s waiting for a punch to be thrown, and shakes his head. "Can’t say I do."

Mako bobs her head to one side and gestures to a free chair. “The Marshall taught it to me when I was younger, and I taught Chuck,” she explains. Her mouth quirks into another smile, a new one, more mischievous than Raleigh would ever have expected from her. “And now he thinks he is better than I am at it.”

Chuck’s head snaps back up, his eyes narrowing at the two of them - but playfully, Raleigh notes, and then realises that Mako is taunting Chuck on purpose. “I don’t think I’m better,” Chuck tells her. “I am better.”

"So you say," Mako says smoothly, finishing dealing out her piles. "But I have won four games so far today, and you, only one." Raleigh laughs quietly, and Chuck shoots him a scowl that has nowhere near as much venom in it as his earlier looks did. 

"I beat you six-three yesterday," he retorts, and Mako shrugs expansively, spreading her hands over her piles. 

"That was yesterday," she tells him before casting another look in Raleigh’s direction. "Sit, Raleigh," she says. "You might find this… entertaining." 

Raleigh grins his agreement - just watching the two of them bicker, once he got past how surreal it seemed, was amusing; watching them actually play would be even more so, he imagines - and slides into a seat on an empty side of the table, with a clear view of them both.

"You can referee," Mako suggests, and Chuck barks out a low laugh, turning to Raleigh without any hostility on his face.

"She’s a dirty cheat when she wants to prove a point," he warns, smiling lazily, like Raleigh’s an old friend, before remembering who he’s talking to and stiffening slightly, turning back to Mako. Raleigh doesn’t have time to analyse that, either, because Mako counts neatly to three and they both turn a card over into the middle and start to play.

Four and a half hours later, Chuck is up eight games to five, and a laughing Mako calls it a day. “Admit it?” Chuck says, his shoulders looser now, his smile solid even when he turns to Raleigh. “No way she can deny it now, right?”

"He does have you beat," Raleigh says, and Mako laughs again, gathering all the cards up and neatening the pile in her hands.

"I can still kick his ass, though," she tells them both, which makes Chuck flush and Raleigh howl with laughter, loud and full and real, ringing through the room until they’re both laughing with him.


End file.
